The EASD wants to raise our taxes 11.85% this year
Julie Zando-Dennis, a West Ward neighbor and attorney, has looked into the EASD's proposed 11.85% tax hike for us, and her findings are pasted below. As it turns out, in this situation residents have no recourse via referendum (which is why School Board elections are so important), so circulating a petition would be a waste of time and energy. It is more important than ever to write letter to the editors of local papers, email our State Rep. Bob Freeman to ask that he advocate on our behalf to the PA Dept of Education, and above all, to show up this Thursday, Feb. 4th, 6:30 p.m. at the EASD Education Center, 1801 Bushkill Drive, 2nd Floor to make our voices heard against this outrageous tax hike.
Please write letter to the editor by clicking on the links on the right side bar of this page for the Express Times' and Morning Call's on line letter-to-the-editor form.
To email our State Rep. Bob Freeman click here.
But most importantly, please come to the meeting if you can make it out--the more people we have in the room, the more seriously they will take us.
The amount of public outcry will in part determine how high the increase ends up being if the School Board receives their exception. Please read Julie's findings on the EASD's process for filing for exemption from the State cap of 3.6% so that we can all be as informed as possible:
EASD’s Proposed Tax Increase
Timeline:
February 17, 2010: EASD must adopt a preliminary budget.
February 22, 2010: The adopted preliminary budget, which includes a schedule of proposed tax rate increases, must be submitted to the PA Dept of Ed
March 4, 2010: Requests for referendum exceptions must be submitted to the PA Dept of Ed
[At least one week prior to submitting its referendum exception request to the PA Dept of Ed, EASD must publish notice of its intent to seek PA Dept of Ed approval in a newspaper of general circulation and on the school district’s web site.]
Procedure:
In order to increase property taxes beyond the inflation index without seeking voter approval, the EASD must submit and receive approval for a referendum exception. The exceptions, enumerated in the Taxpayer Relief Act: Special Session Act 1 of 2006, cover:
1. Emergencies and disasters
2. Court orders (e.g. desegregating schools)
3. Conditions that pose an immediate threat of serious harm or injury
4. Ensuring that district revenue from four major sources together keeps pace with the Index – local property taxes, local earned income and net profits taxes and personal income taxes, state Basic Education Funding and state Special Education Funding
5. Ensuring that spending per student keeps pace with the index
6. No Child Left Behind school improvement plans
7. School construction (regarding safety, or over-crowding)
8. Special education costs that increase by more than the index
9. Health care benefits that rise faster than the index in contracts in effect on January 1, 2006
10. Increases in retirement payments that rise faster than the index
If the request for an exception is approved, the PA Dept of Ed will determine the dollar amount of the expenditure for which the exception is sought and the tax rate increase required to fund the exception.
Finally, if the PA Dept of Ed denies the request for an exception, the school district must (1) reduce the tax rate increase to no more than its index or (2) submit a referendum question for voter approval in the primary election (for school districts with a July 1 through June 30 fiscal year).
Observations:
While health care and retirement qualify for an exception, it appears that teacher salaries do not.
Based on the newspaper reports, it appears that the EASD will seek approval from the PA Dept of Ed rather than the Court of Common Pleas. Thus, the decision making authority rests with a state agency. So, at this juncture, no court action is required, nor will seeking an injunction from the courts succeed.
Pressure must be put on the EASD before it adopts a preliminary budget by February 17, 2010.
Once the preliminary budget (and proposed tax rate increases) reach the PA Dept of Ed, it appears that there is no mechanism for public input. This is consistent with the power of agencies to set priorities. Contacting Representative Freeman's office certainly can't hurt though.
Note though that PA Dept of Ed approval does not appear to be a rubber stamp. Based on a preliminary reading of the data in the link below, it is unlikely that the PA Dept of Ed will approve a tax increase as high as 11.85%.
This link is chock full of interesting and useful information, and I highly recommend that everyone take a look through the tables.
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21 comments:
And is there any clarity about whether this school district is rejecting federal money - there was in the previous posts a statement about that - I am not sure if it was stimulus money or what but it sounded like there was some kind of financial assistance offered and...what? Does anybody know more about this?
I am no longer a City resident but feel strongly about pay in the public sector reflecting pay in the private sector, especially in times like these. It's frustrating as working people to take on the solidarity of a teachers' union. These working people are protected by outstanding benefits that many of us do not enjoy. As a Morning Call writer once wrote - we pay the public salaries that do not reflect our own pay levels. (Don't recall his name, unfortunately.)
Thanks for posting Lauren. Hopefully when contract negotiations come around again, there will be enough political will to make some meaningful changes happen. For now, the EASD must make some big cuts, the way residents all over Easton are in their homes.
Does anyone know the answer to Anon 8:27's question? I have not heard about this. Please post if you're heard anything specific about this--thanks!
I hear what Lauren is saying, and I don't have any union connection or history, but it seems to me that one of the problems with things today is that working people often see unions as the problem; in reality, it's not that the unionized workers are getting too much, but that the rest of the people are being paid too little or not getting the benefits they deserve.
There's no doubt that some unions have abused their power and made unreasonable or impossible demands. More often, though, they are doing what they were organized to do -- protecting the workers -- and that's why the workers joined. Remember that many owners, including government agencies, have abused and exploited workers and continue to do so.
I also think that if there were a higher percentage of unionized workers, you'd see non-union workers doing much better, because union pay scales and benefits are almost always reflected in better conditions for the non-union workers as well.
While the topic of unions makes for good debate (I think I may post about them soon so that we can have that discussion), when it comes to this tax hike, we are not in negotiation with the teachers union right now. What IS in play is that we have elected school board members that have the right to raise our taxes as high as the PA Dept of Ed will let them. That is part of why school board elections are so important, and why we need to start paying close attention to how each member votes, so that we know who to vote and not vote for in the next election. There is a state cap of 3.6%, but the school board has the right to request an exception for the reasons Julie listed.
So the power that we actually have right now is applying pressure by speaking up at these EASD meetings on the budget to let these officials know that if they do not respect the concerns of taxpaying voters, they will not be elected again.
Political will = political power. Please spread the word about Thursday's meeting!
Let us remember that although salaries are a big partof the EASD budget there are many other problems with this Board. Salaries in any service organization are going to be high -- as much as 70% of the total budget.
However, this Board and others in the past 6-10 years have no Master Building Plan. First they put on a $50 million + addition to the high school which is more than 40 years old and don't upgrade the auditorium (seats 800, pool or gymnasium (seats 1,000) for fear of being labeled "athletic." Meanwhile they don't have one place to hold an assembly.
Then they add ninth grade to the high school which now has over 3,000students.
Now they need a new middle school so they spend $95 million on Shawnee. And guess what? That's where they place the new auditorium (seating 1800) and the new gymnasium which seats about 4 - 5,000. No upgrades to the small bumpkin roads that lead to it.
So now with the aud. and gym not at the high school us taxpayers now bus the students to the facilities everyday for practices and games or concerts.
Then thanks to the former Chairman who just happened to work for Bionney and Smith the district buys one of their mills and turns it into the academy. The staff there is doing a fine job but wasn't there a better place that the district already owns ------ 811 Northampton is available because they purchased a new administration building --- that who knows how much they invested there. Another black hole with a Board Room that barely seats the Board let alone ample space for the public.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. But the old adage may be true -- you get what you pay for and they don't get paid.
Found this article on the Lehigh Valley Ramblings blog--it's from a national publication called The Bond Buyer--I'm pasting the link for the article below. Can anyone out there tell me if they know for a fact whether or not the EASD is one of the 107 Pennsylvania municipalities that has engaged in derivative exchanges? Considering the article features the Bethlehem's school district, I wouldn't be surprised, but I would like confirmation in the form of an article or some official doc:
http://www.bondbuyer.com/issues/119_269/pennsylvania-swaps-agreements-1006688-1.html
Wilson School District, our neighbor, has proposed a 2.6% tax hike, by comparison:
http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/easton/index.ssf?/base/news-1/126508712129890.xml&coll=3
An article in the Express Times on the costs of the proposed pool refurbishment--just as we saw at the meeting, there are conflicting reports as to whether or not these $850K in repairs are needed now:
http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/easton/index.ssf?/base/news-1/126482792372370.xml&coll=3
EASD did not buy into the derivatives known as swaptions. Unbelievable but true. Bethlehem did and lost millions.
Anon 7:20--That's some good news at least!
Anon 4:14 makes some damning points though...
With regards to Anon 8:27's question . . . I'm not sure about federal money, but the state's Taxpayer Relief Act gives to voters in each school district the right to choose whether to receive state-funded property tax relief. State-funded property tax relief comes from gaming money. (Not sure why voters would reject these funds -- moral reasons???)
According to the PA Dept of Ed website, "If a school board rejects state funding for property tax relief through gaming, then the final decision goes to the voters. In a referendum question, voters can overrule their school board and decide to accept state-funded property tax relief.
After the Department of Education notifies each school district of its property tax reduction allocation (no later than May 1 for the July-to-June fiscal year that starts that July 1), a school board can pass a resolution within one month refusing its property tax reduction allocation.
If a school board votes not to accept its state property tax reduction allocation, voters get the final say. In the subsequent election, voters will be asked to decide whether the school district should accept state funds to reduce property taxes. If the majority of voters approve, then the district will receive state-funded property tax relief beginning with the next fiscal year."
BTW: Noel introduced me as an attorney. I am an attorney admitted to the bar in NY and NJ. I am NOT a Pennsylvania attorney. I may not give legal advice in PA, nor do I wish to do so. My interpretation of PA state or municipal statutes is as a concerned citizen only.
Thanks, Julie!
Julie, with regard to Anon 8:27's comment, and your follow-up, it sounds as if the people's opportunity to vote (if the EASD did in fact turn down the tax relief--i hope not) would have been in the last election. I do not remember seeing anything about it on the ballot, but then again, I did not see the Home Rule Charter issue on the ballot either, and as I did not know to be looking for it, I, like a lot of people I've spoken to, missed the chance to vote on that issue.
I asked for an explanation of how to vote properly when I went to the booth, as I wanted to vote for a write-in candidate, which is pretty tricky, and the Home Rule Charter issue was never brought up, nor was anything about accepting tax relief.
I don't know if this means that the EASD never turned it down, or that voters (including myself) were oblivious to the issue and didn't notice it on the ballot.
If anyone noticed a tax relief issue on the ballot, please let us know.
I have to say that all this points to the sorry state of our local election process. In the last election, there were a pitiful few candidates forums, and I had to organize one myself just so that WW residents would get a chance to hear their candidates debate each other.
I wish that the newspapers, and more local organizations would host forums that cover ALL topics that will be on the ballot, so that voters can be more informed. The only organizations that I know of, that stepped to the plate to offer candidates forums were the NAACP, Shiloh Baptist Church, and this blog (after approaching the WWNP and the Boy & Girls Club, who co-hosted). If there are more that I missed, please let me know.
Julie,Thank you for the clarification and advice as a citizen.The EASD has always been it's own entity.It has never been challenged to the degree that it has now.Back door dealings and negotiations have been standard operating procedure for decades and the public has not been privy to much of what has been done.I am unsure of the District's ranking and I do know that the ranking determines what funds are available or unavailable from the Feds.This would be a question that I would pose to the Board.Noel,you are 100% correct in the fact that the entire Community needs to remember that these folks are elected officials,THEY and THEIR actions are accountable to us.The problem lies in the fact that most voters unless they are directly involved with the District tend to just pull the lever and assume the folks elected have the Communities best interest at heart.It is not until tax hikes and what could be frivolous spending has already taken place.Knee jerk reaction.After sitting through an hour and a half of bickering over the swimming pool issues,it became apparent to me that the Board's communication skills among themselves was an issue,and although I am sure everyone that sits on the Board does have"our" children s best interest at heart or at least I hope they do,but I don't believe we can just sit back and watch a potential fiasco unfurl.We need to stand ground and hold the feet to the proverbial Fire of ACCOUNTABILITY. It is sad but true that we and the children of the District are the ones who will foot the bill.And PeterKC is also right,unions are not necessarily the culprit here,equal pay in the public and private sector is an issue for another day.In a perfect world everyone would not have this issue,but we do and all we have to do is look at other Districts and see where all this is headed.
Just as confusing as the Home Rule Charter referendum was so is the School District to those not involved.
FYI some ancient History,at least 10 to 12 years ago Easton qualified for a Federally Funded Health Care facility in Downtown but it was at a time where the political climate deemed it unnecessary and the funding was not perused. I am sure the public was unaware of this and if there were such a thing as "Neighbors" then,access to heath care would be much better for some of the City's neediest folks.That should have happened but it didn't,instead St.Luke's Hospital and Bethlehem took advantage of the opportunity and who do we see everywhere??? St.Luke's. My point was,seize the day or suffer the consequences.One of the many reasons why it is so important to take the time to educate one's self on issues that can effect you and your loved one's on Election Day!And please if you read any of these posts do the children a favor and GO TO THE MEETING.The only stupid question is the one that is not ask!
Julie,
Thanks for the excellent information.
what time does the school board meeting start tonight?
Somebody said 7:30
I thought the website says 6:30 pm
Anon 4:37--thank you so much! I just confirmed and it is indeed an hour earlier than last time. My source said that they used to always have the meetings at 7:30, but then it was switched to 6:30 recently, and the one last week was a Finance Committee meeting, which is why it started at 7:30. I have made correction and will email our readership with the correct time--thanks again and hope to see you there!
p.s. my sources also tell me that executive sessions are held beforehand and run notoriously late, so don't feel bad if you can't get there right at 6:30--last week they started over an hour late!
There is a new post on this topic with a report from the EASD budget meeting entitled, "Swimming in Debt" including video of the meeting--please make any additional comments on this topic there.
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